We work in a range of systems and taxa that are subject to a diverse of set of environmental drivers. What unites our work are the themes we use to address questions. 1 - our approaches draw heavily from ecological theory and works to test theory using applied systems. 2 - we emphasize a strong quantitative approach, including integration of large data sets and the development of robust statistical and modeling tools for ecological analyses. 3 - we place an emphasis on application and linking research and models to decision-making. Below are some examples of the work we are doing in the lab.

Climate effects population and range dynamics of red-backed salamanders

We are working with a network of collaborators in the northeast on ﻿a study to understand climate-change impacts on red backed salamanders (SPARCNet - Salamander Population and Adaptation Research Collaborative Network). The project centers around a series of r﻿eplicate plots where we are monitoring salamander populations using mark-recapture methods. We will use a combination of natural environmental variation and experimental manipulations to establish climate relationships for each study area and how they vary across the salamanders range. We hope to eventually link this with coarser monitoring of presence and abundance to develop a cross-scale understanding of range-dynamics for this species.

Predicting the effects of environmental change on amphibian communities

As part of a larger working group funded through the USGS Powell Center and the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative, we are attempting to better understand among species predictors of climate impacts on amphibian species. The effort relies on hundreds of time-series of amphibian occurrence probabilities and dozens of long-term mark-recapture studies to identify important climatic drivers and under﻿stand how their affect varies among species and systems.Learn more about the Powell Center and our working group at the Powell Center Website.

Integrating habitat and community interactions into species distribution models

Community interactions have long been known to be important in structuring breeding amphibians, which often use small wetland habitats such as vernal pools in the northeast. Mesocosm studies have demonstrated the importance of competition, predation, and hydro-period for these species. Our goal is to translate our understanding from experimental systems into natural systems to better understand the processes structuring communities. We use a dynamic modeling approach for field data to estimate interactions and the importance that predators and annual variability in water availability have in structuring occurrence patterns.

Accounting for misidentification when modeli﻿ng species distributions

Misidentification is a problem for many ecological data sets and dealing with this source of observational error is increasingly important as we rely more on publicly collected data sets and large species occurrence databases. We have been working to quantify rates of misidentification and to develop statistical methods that properly deal with these errors when making inferences.

Demographic outcomes of aging in wild populations﻿

Bio-demographic methods to understand patterns of aging in wild animals provide insights into the processes that affect rates of aging. Although evidence is limited, there is some suggestion that rates of senescence may be lower in taxa such as snakes, turtles, and amphibians. We are working to try to better understand rates of senescence in these species and using a comparative approach to better understand factors that affect aging in these groups.